TCEQ Allows Water to Be Cut Off to Rice Farmers

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has signed off on an order granting emergency drought-period powers to the Lower Colorado River Authority that will excuse it from releasing water to lower-basin rice farmers if volumes of lakes Travis and Buchanan are less than 1.1 million acre-feet on March 1. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the lakes currently contain far less volume, only 764,323 acre-feet, which means that the farmers will almost surely be cut off.

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